In recent years, the August release of Electronic Arts' annual Madden NFL installment has signaled the end of a slow period on the release schedule. It has also been the beginning of a gradual ramp-up in releases, culminating with a mid-November bounty of holiday launches.

However, this year could unfold differently, as Microsoft has already announced a late September arrival for Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, and Take-Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto IV will follow in October. The gap between Madden and Halo 3 won't exactly be barren of highly anticipated releases, either. Nintendo today detailed its summer release schedule for first-party and third-party games, with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption set to arrive on the Wii August 20, less than a week after Madden NFL 08.

Nintendo gave release dates or windows for a dozen other summer Wii games, with a reiteration that Electronic Arts' Boogie will arrive in the fall. Of those, two more are first-party titles: arcade-style soccer game Mario Strikers Charged on July 30 and the action strategy sequel Battalion Wars 2 in September.

The Nintendo DS's new-release shelves will be much busier than their Wii counterparts for the summer season, as Nintendo gave release windows for 37 games on its portable. As predicted by retailers, Picross and Brain Age 2 are definitely getting North American releases. GameStop correctly pegged the Picross date as July 30, but only had the month right for Brain Age 2, which is now set for an August 20 release. As for Nintendo's other first-party DS releases, DK Jungle Climber (formerly DK: King of Swing) is set to arrive September 10, followed by Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol September 24.

[UPDATE] Gamers who might have been panicked at the omission of Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2 from the list below need not worry. A Rockstar Games representative blamed Manhunt 2's absence on a miscommunication, and has confirmed to GameSpot that the violent action-adventure game will be released in North America on July 10 for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable.